1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combination tool for lifting furniture and removing glued down or bonded carpet, intended mainly for use by professional carpet installers in the commercial field.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Offices are frequently carpeted for a variety of reasons, including cost, noise suppression and comfort. In commercial installations, it is customary to cement the carpet to the floor to provide it with sufficient body to prevent undue wear. To minimize office disruption, it is preferred not to move the furniture and modular office panels when it comes time to replace the carpet. Otherwise each desk and work area must be cleared of all business supplies and personal items. All electrical, telephone and computer network systems must be disconnected and all computers, telephones, facsimile machines and so forth moved. The furniture or modular office panels are then disassembled as far as necessary and all of the items stored while the new carpet is being laid. Carpet tiles, about 18 inches on a side, have been developed in response to the need to carpet without moving the furniture and modular office panels, giving rise to a need for tools for lifting the furniture slightly off the floor in order to allow the old carpet to be removed and replaced with new carpet tiles.
There are electric floor stripping machines and long handled floor scrapers for removing the carpet in open areas. Such machines and scrapers, however, cannot go into confined areas or under furniture and modular office panels commonly mounted on adjustable leveling glides. In these areas, small strips of carpet are left behind to be cut out by hand, small pieces at a time, further giving rise to a need for a tool that can double as a scraper for removing the small strips of carpet in addition to lifting the furniture slightly off the floor so that the old carpet can be removed and replaced with new carpet tiles. There are pry bars, crowbars, jacks, etc. for lifting furniture and there are small scrapers, etc. for ripping carpet but insofar as known, there is no combination lifter/ripper particularly adapted to the needs of commercial carpet installers.